Controversies of Christmas part 2
Prophecy controversy; perfect fulfillment, Genealogy controversy; perfect ancestry, Virginity controversy; perfect conception, Star controversy; perfect announcement, Date controversy; at the perfect time
We’ve moved from prophecy controversy; “Where is He from?” Bethlehem, Egypt, Ramah, Nazareth, to genealogy controversy; “What is His ancestry?”
Jesus has 4 origin stories
Scripture Reading
Mark
Mark 1 The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God. 2 As it is written in [a]the Prophets: “Behold, I send My messenger before Your face, Who will prepare Your way before You.” 3 “The voice of one crying in the wilderness: ‘Prepare the way of the Lord; Make His paths straight.’ ” 4 John came baptizing in the wilderness and preaching a baptism of repentance [b]for the remission of sins.
Luke
Luke 3:23-38 23 Now Jesus Himself began His ministry at about thirty years of age, being (as was supposed) the son of Joseph, the son of Heli, 24 the son of Matthat, the son of Levi, the son of Melchi, the son of Janna, the son of Joseph, ….(punctuation rules four dots when you remove a larger section
36 …. the son of Shem, the son of Noah, the son of Lamech, 37 the son of Methuselah, the son of Enoch, the son of Jared, the son of Mahalalel, the son of Cainan, 38 the son of Enosh, the son of Seth, the son of Adam, the son of God.
Luke’s genealogy traces Jesus’ heritage back, 77 generations, to Adam and God.
Matthew
Matthew 1:1-16 The book of the genealogy[a] of Jesus Christ, the Son of David, the Son of Abraham: 2 Abraham begot Isaac, Isaac begot Jacob, and Jacob begot Judah and his brothers. ….
42 generations going forward to Joseph’s father,
16 And Jacob begot Joseph the husband of Mary, of whom was born Jesus who is called Christ.
John
John 1:1-18 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 He was in the beginning with God. 3 All things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made.
The controversies of Christmas
There are many controversies around Christmas each year; some of them trivial, some very important.
Wikipedia
“Prior to the Victorian era, Christmas was primarily a religious holiday observed by Christians of the Roman Catholic, Anglican, and Lutheran denominations. Its importance was often considered secondary to that of Epiphany and Easter.”
But Christmas over the years has turned into a big extravaganza for the church. So much so that some Christian groups began to object to what Christmas had become. In Great Britain, it depended on the religious beliefs of who was in power whether you were allowed to celebrate Christmas or not.
“The Puritans, on the other hand, objected to the Christian feast of Christmas,[39] during the English Interregnum, when England was ruled by a Puritan Parliament.[40] Puritans sought to remove elements they viewed as unbiblical, from their practice of Christianity, including those feasts established by the Anglican Church.[41] In 1647, the Puritan-led English Parliament banned the celebration of Christmas, replacing it with a day of fasting and considering it "a popish festival with no biblical justification", and a time of wasteful and immoral behaviour.[42] Protests followed as pro-Christmas rioting broke out in several cities (nothing says “merry Christmas” like a good riot) and for weeks Canterbury was controlled by the rioters, who decorated doorways with holly and shouted royalist slogans.[43] The book The Vindication of Christmas (London, 1652) argued against the Puritans, and makes note of Old English Christmas traditions, dinner, roast apples on the fire, card playing, dances with "plow-boys" and "maidservants", old Father Christmas and carol singing.[44] (We want our Christmas back!)
The Restoration of King Charles II in 1660 ended the ban. Poor Robin's Almanack contained the lines: "Now thanks to God for Charles return, / Whose absence made old Christmas mourn. / For then we scarcely did it know, / Whether it Christmas were or no."[45] Many clergymen still disapproved of Christmas celebration.
In Colonial America, the Pilgrims of New England disapproved of Christmas.[47] The Plymouth Pilgrims put their loathing for the day into practice in 1620 when they spent their first Christmas Day in the New World building their first structure in the New World—thus demonstrating their complete contempt for the day.[47]
Christmas has been controversial.
But there are far more important questions than whether you have a Christmas tree, or hang mistletoe are the theological controversies of Christmas.
Last week we considered the prophecy controversy; Jesus was the perfect fulfillment of Christmas prophecy. This week we consider the genealogy controversy; Jesus had the perfect ancestry.
prayer
Let me draw your attention to a question asked by Jesus, to the unbelieving Jews.
Matthew 22:42 saying, “What do you think about the Christ? Whose Son is He?”
This is a question of ancestry. What family does the Christ arise from? What is His ancestry, His pedigree? Well today we are looking at the four gospels, that give us four answers to that question, and they coalesce together into one answer, that Jesus’ had the perfect pedigree.
4 answers; 4 views among the Jews, no one’s son, Son of Man, Mary’s son, Son of David, Joseph’s son, the Son of God
I. Mark – Son of No one/no genealogy
Mark 1 The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God. 2 As it is written in [a]the Prophets: “Behold, I send My messenger before Your face, Who will prepare Your way before You.” 3 “The voice of one crying in the wilderness: ‘Prepare the way of the Lord; Make His paths straight.’ ”
There’s no genealogy.
The gospel of Mark doesn’t begin with the birth of Christ. It doesn’t propose to answer the question, “Whose Son is He?” It just plunges into the story of Jesus at the time when John the Baptist was announcing His coming.
Mark really describes a kind of “out of nowhere” arrival of the Messiah. Around 30 A.D., this strange man, John the Baptist, starts preaching along the roadways in the wilderness of Judea. He captures everyone’s attention because he is dressed as one of the most revered and famous prophets of Israel; Elijah. He is wearing camel hair clothes, and a leather belt. He is noted for living off of the land; eating locusts and wild honey. He is calling on the Jewish people to repent because their long-awaited Messiah is going to appear at any time. John would say, “The Kingdom of God is at hand.”
And the scripture that he quoted to bolster his message came out of Malachi chapter 3. Again, that prophecy added to the feeling that the Messiah would come out of nowhere.
“Behold, I
send My messenger, And he will prepare the way before Me. And the Lord,
whom you seek, Will suddenly come to His temple, Even the Messenger of the
covenant,
In whom you delight. Behold, He is coming,” Says
the Lord of hosts.
The Messiah will come suddenly to His temple. He will come out of nowhere. And He did. When Jesus began His ministry, life was going on as usual in Israel. The rich were getting richer, and the poor poorer. The religious elite ruled the day and used the authority of the priesthood to squeeze more money from the poor.
Then suddenly one day Jesus shows up to the temple in Jerusalem. Nobody knows Him. Nobody is telling the story of Jesus being born 30 years before and being laid in a manger in Bethlehem, worshiped by shepherds, heralded by angels, visited by magi.
No, at 30 years of age, unknown to the Jewish world, Jesus suddenly appears in the temple with a whip, driving out the moneychangers, overturning the tables of those who sold doves saying, “Make not my Father’s house a house of merchandise.”
By Mark quoting this passage, the impression He gave was that Messiah was coming suddenly, and His first mission is to purify God’s people. The next verses say,
2 “But who can endure the day of His coming? And who can stand when He appears? For He is like a refiner’s fire And like launderers’ soap. 3 He will sit as a refiner and a purifier of silver; He will purify the sons of Levi, And [a]purge them as gold and silver, That they may offer to the Lord An offering in righteousness.
Mark quotes from Malachi, the last prophet of the Old Testament. And some believe that Mark was the first gospel written down. And the first words about the Messiah, were that He would suddenly appear in the temple. Mark’s gospel is a call to action. It is a call to belief and repentance. It is not a theological treatise that seeks to convince you of Jesus’ pedigree. Mark has no time for that. Jesus came out of nowhere, springing from no one to call Israel and the world to repentance.
And do you know that that is what some of the Jews expected? A belief that the Christ comes out of nowhere.
John 7:26-27 26 But look! He speaks boldly, and they say nothing to Him. Do the rulers know indeed that this is [a]truly the Christ? 27 However, we know where this Man is from; but when the Christ comes, no one knows where He is from.”
A commentator I read said this about the Jews expectation that the Messiah would come out of nowhere.
“it appears that the common expectation of the Jews was that the Messiah would be born at Bethlehem; but they had also feigned that after his birth he would be hidden or taken away in some mysterious manner, and appear again from some unexpected quarter.
The following extracts from Jewish writings show that this was the common expectation: "The Redeemer shall manifest himself, and afterward be hid. So it was in the redemption from Egypt. Moses showed himself and then was hidden." So on the passage, Sol 2:9 - "My beloved is like a roe or a young hart" - they say: "A roe appears and then is hid; so the Redeemer shall first appear and then be concealed, and then again be concealed and then again appear."
So, the controversy was, “Where did this man come from?” Some indicated that Scripture says that He will come out of nowhere. And, in a sense, He did. He came out of obscurity, oh little town of Bethlehem, laid in a manger, raised in Galilee in backwater Nazareth. Nobody but Mary and Joseph seem to have had any expectations of Him.
Until He suddenly appeared on the scene with John the Baptist declaring “Behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!”
Again, Matthew 22:42 saying, “What do you think about the Christ? Whose Son is He?”
Mark answered, no one’s son
II. Luke – the Son of Man/Adam
Luke 3:23-38 23 Now Jesus Himself began His ministry at about thirty years of age, being (as was supposed) the son of Joseph, the son of Heli, 24 the son of Matthat, the son of Levi, the son of Melchi, the son of Janna, the son of Joseph, 25 the son of Mattathiah, the son of Amos, the son of Nahum, the son of Esli, the son of Naggai, 26 the son of Maath, the son of Mattathiah, the son of Semei, the son of Joseph, the son of Judah, 27 the son of Joannas, the son of Rhesa, the son of Zerubbabel, the son of Shealtiel, the son of Neri, 28 the son of Melchi, the son of Addi, the son of Cosam, the son of Elmodam, the son of Er, 29 the son of Jose, the son of Eliezer, the son of Jorim, the son of Matthat, the son of Levi, 30 the son of Simeon, the son of Judah, the son of Joseph, the son of Jonan, the son of Eliakim, 31 the son of Melea, the son of Menan, the son of Mattathah, the son of Nathan, the son of David, 32 the son of Jesse, the son of Obed, the son of Boaz, the son of Salmon, the son of Nahshon, 33 the son of Amminadab, the son of Ram, the son of Hezron, the son of Perez, the son of Judah, 34 the son of Jacob, the son of Isaac, the son of Abraham, the son of Terah, the son of Nahor, 35 the son of Serug, the son of Reu, the son of Peleg, the son of Eber, the son of Shelah, 36 the son of Cainan, the son of Arphaxad, the son of Shem, the son of Noah, the son of Lamech, 37 the son of Methuselah, the son of Enoch, the son of Jared, the son of Mahalalel, the son of Cainan, 38 the son of Enosh, the son of Seth, the son of Adam, the son of God.
He is the son of man, He is a man, a human being.
Son of Man is one of the favorite titles.
Matthew 8:20 And Jesus said to him, “Foxes have holes and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay His head.”
Matthew 11:19 The Son of Man came eating and drinking, and they say, ‘Look, a glutton and a winebibber, a friend of tax collectors and sinners!’ But wisdom is justified by her children.”
Matthew 16:13 When Jesus came into the region of Caesarea Philippi, He asked His disciples, saying, “Who do men say that I, the Son of Man, am?”
What does Son of Man mean?
What does that mean that He is called the Son of Adam? He was born a human being, connected to the first human being just like every other person born into the world.
Philippians 2:7-8 but [a]made Himself of no reputation, taking the form of a bondservant, and coming in the likeness of men. 8 And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross.Hebrews 2:17 Therefore, in all things He had to be made like His brethren, that He might be a merciful and faithful High Priest in things pertaining to God, to make propitiation for the sins of the people.
Hebrews 4: 14 Seeing then that we have a great High Priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession. 15 For we do not have a High Priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but was in all points tempted as we are, yet without sin.
5 For every high priest taken from among men is appointed for men in things pertaining to God, that he may offer both gifts and sacrifices for sins. 2 He can [a]have compassion on those who are ignorant and going astray, since he himself is also subject to weakness.
He came as a man to identify with men.
Dispute
There are those who dispute that Jesus was a man.
The Gnostics – and some other early Christians as well – took issue with this view. It implied that Christ’s spirit was under the power of matter and that it suffered at the hands of matter, which seemed ridiculous and even blasphemous to them.
Such Gnostics would have agreed with the portrayal of Jesus in the (non-Gnostic) early Christian text called the Acts of John. Ehrman comments:
John indicates that Jesus appeared to different people in different guises at the same time (e.g., as an old man and as a youth, simultaneously to different people), that he never blinked his eyes, that sometimes his chest felt smooth and tender but sometimes hard as stone. As John later says, “Sometimes when I meant to touch him, I met a material and solid body; at other times again I felt him, the substance was immaterial and bodiless and as if it were not existing at all” (chap. 93). One time, John indicates, he noticed that Jesus never left any footprints—literally a God striding on the earth
He was a man. The Son of Man, Son of Adam, so He could identify with men.
Despite controversy, those of faith, at Christmas must believe in His humanity.
But His Sonship meant more than being the Son of Man, born human.
Hebrews 1:5 5 For to which of the angels did He ever say: “You are My Son, Today I have begotten You”? And again: “I will be to Him a Father, And He shall be to Me a Son”?
8 But to the Son He says: “Your throne, O God, is forever and ever; A [f]scepter of righteousness is the scepter of Your kingdom.
He is the Son of no one, the Son of Adam, and the Son of Abraham/David, born to be the Son of David/King of the Jews.
III. Matthew – Son of Abraham/Son of David/King of the Jews
Matthew 1:1-16 The book of the genealogy[a] of Jesus Christ, the Son of David, the Son of Abraham:
Right from the start Matthew tells you who Messiah will be “the Son of David, the Son of Abraham.”
2 Abraham begot Isaac, Isaac begot Jacob, and Jacob begot Judah and his brothers. 3 Judah begot Perez and Zerah by Tamar, Perez begot Hezron, and Hezron begot Ram. 4 Ram begot Amminadab, Amminadab begot Nahshon, and Nahshon begot Salmon. 5 Salmon begot Boaz by Rahab, Boaz begot Obed by Ruth, Obed begot Jesse, 6 and Jesse begot David the king. David the king begot Solomon by her [b]who had been the wife of Uriah. 7 Solomon begot Rehoboam, Rehoboam begot Abijah, and Abijah begot [c]Asa. 8 Asa begot Jehoshaphat, Jehoshaphat begot Joram, and Joram begot Uzziah. 9 Uzziah begot Jotham, Jotham begot Ahaz, and Ahaz begot Hezekiah. 10 Hezekiah begot Manasseh, Manasseh begot [d]Amon, and Amon begot Josiah. 11 Josiah begot [e]Jeconiah and his brothers about the time they were carried away to Babylon. 12 And after they were brought to Babylon, Jeconiah begot Shealtiel, and Shealtiel begot Zerubbabel. 13 Zerubbabel begot Abiud, Abiud begot Eliakim, and Eliakim begot Azor. 14 Azor begot Zadok, Zadok begot Achim, and Achim begot Eliud. 15 Eliud begot Eleazar, Eleazar begot Matthan, and Matthan begot Jacob. 16 And Jacob begot Joseph the husband of Mary, of whom was born Jesus who is called Christ.
Right off the bat you should notice what is distinctive about Matthew’s genealogy. It ties Jesus directly to Soloman, David, Judah, Israel, Isaac, and Abraham. This is the Jewish cream of the crop. These are quite some references. These are all resume enhancing names.
And the one name that stands out is David. This genealogy claims that Jesus was the Son of David.
“As to his earthly life [Christ Jesus] was a descendant of David” (Romans 1:3).
What does it mean that He is the Son of David?
1 Samuel 7: 12 “When your days are fulfilled and you rest with your fathers, I will set up your seed after you, who will come from your body, and I will establish his kingdom. 13 He shall build a house for My name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever. 14 I will be his Father, and he shall be My son. …. 16 And your house and your kingdom shall be established forever before [b]you. Your throne shall be established forever.” ’ ”Primarily, the title “Son of David” is more than a statement of physical genealogy. It is a Messianic title. When people referred to Jesus as the Son of David, they meant that He was the long-awaited Deliverer, the fulfillment of the Old Testament prophecies about Messiah, Israel’s Savior.
So, whose Son was Matthew saying Jesus was? The Son of David.
This genealogy was put together for one purpose; to demonstrate that Jesus was the promised coming King of the Jews. He has the appropriate pedigree. He has 2 very important qualifications; He is a full-blooded Jew, and He was born in the kingly line.
He is 100 percent Jewish, descended from Abraham. But not just from Abraham. Ishmael was descended from Abraham. Jesus was also descended from Isaac. But not just from Isaac. Esau was descended from Isaac. He was descended from Jacob/Israel. So, He’s 100% Jewish.
And He was also descended from David from the line of Judah. He is in the line as heir to the throne of David.
Christ, whose Son is He? He is the Son of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Judah, and David.
That means that He came to establish His Kingdom. Both Jesus and John the Baptist started their preaching with, “Repent, for the Kingdom of God is at hand.” He started His ministry with a message of the Kingdom.
Many of Jesus parables started with the phrase, “The Kingdom of God is like…”
And how fitting that the accusation that took Him to His death was that “He claimed to be a King.”
When Jesus accusers couldn’t convince Pilate to crucify Jesus on any other charge, they said to Pilate, (John 19)
12 From then on Pilate sought to release Him, but the Jews cried out, saying, “If you let this Man go, you are not Caesar’s friend. Whoever makes himself a king speaks against Caesar.”
13 When Pilate therefore heard that saying, he brought Jesus out and sat down in the judgment seat in a place that is called The Pavement, but in Hebrew, Gabbatha. 14 Now it was the Preparation Day of the Passover, and about the sixth hour. And he said to the Jews, “Behold your King!”
15 But they cried out, “Away with Him, away with Him! Crucify Him!”
Pilate said to them, “Shall I crucify your King?”
The chief priests answered, “We have no king but Caesar!”
16 Then he delivered Him to them to be crucified. Then they took Jesus [d]and led Him away.
And Pilate put those words over His head; Jesus; King of the Jews.
Despite controversy, those of faith must believe He is their King.
He is the Son of David.
We can hardly leave Matthew and Luke’s genealogy without commenting on something.
The difference between Luke’s and Matthew’s genealogies. If you’ve ever studied them you know exactly what I’m talking about. There are some inconsequential differences.
Luke’s gospel goes backwards from Christ back to Adam. Matthew’s genealogy goes forward from Abraham to Jesus. But then there are a couple of major things to wrestle with about these genealogies. We’re not going to get into all of them. Just one.
Luke says Jesus was born to his father Joseph, the son of Heli, the son of Matthat, etc. But hold on a minute, in Matthew’s genealogy it says Jesus was born to Joseph, the son of Jacob, the son of Matthan, etc. If you start with Jesus and go back, once we get to Joseph’s father, the names don’t match. Once we look before Joseph, these are two different genealogies. Until we get back to David. Then the match all the way back to Abraham.
Let’s approach it another way. If we start at David, Jesus’ genealogy in Matthew goes through David’s son Solomon. Starting at David, Luke traces Jesus’ line through David’s son Nathan.
How can this be? How can Joseph have two different fathers listed?
Critics will point to this as an error in the Bible. It is one of the controversies of Christmas. It comes down to faith for us. Those who don’t believe automatically see an error, and a reason to not believe. We already believe, so we seek the truth. How can Joseph have two fathers listed
There are two major solutions offered to this dilemma. The first dates all the way back to the 1st century. One variation of the first states that Joseph had both a physical father, and a legal father. This theory states that Joseph’s physical father was Heli, and his uncle, or legal father was Jacob. So, Joseph had two fathers. Follow me.
I don’t know if you remember the law of the levirate marriage. This Old Testament law stated that if a man dies without having an heir, his brother is to marry his brother’s widow. And the first-born son would legally inherit and carry on the name of the deceased brother. In this theory, Heli and Jacob, the two “fathers” of Joseph are brothers. Jacob is married but dies before having a child. So, his brother Heli, marries his widow, and has a son named Joseph. Joseph is both the physical son of Heli, and the legal son or heir of Jacob. So, Matthew and Luke have two genealogies; and both are through Joseph.
Now, though that is possible, I don’t think that is how we reconcile these two genealogies. There is a second major way that these genealogies are reconciled.
Jesus had two genealogies. But we all have two genealogies. In fact, we all have thousands of genealogies. How many parents do you have? 2 How many grandparents? 4 How many great-grandparents? 8 (Unless you are from the Appalachian Mountains, if you don’t get that, ask your neighbor, I’ll wait) And you could trace your family tree through any of them. You could trace your genealogy through your father’s side. You could trace your genealogy through your mother’s side. You could trace your genealogy through your grandfather on your father’s side. You could trace your genealogy through your grandmother on your mother’s side. The further you go back, the bigger the root system gets.
So, most Bible commentators reconcile the genealogies of Matthew and Luke by seeing that Matthew’s genealogy is Jesus’ legal lineage through Joseph, and Luke’s genealogy is Jesus physical lineage through Mary. Both establish Him as being in the kingly line of David and Judah. Both establish His Jewish descent from Abraham. But Luke’s lineage teaches us that He was born a man, a Son of Adam. And Matthew’s teaches us that He is the Son of David, King of the Jews.
What’s the biggest hurdle to believing that. One question; if the genealogy in Luke’s gospel is Mary’s genealogy, why didn’t Luke say,
23 Now Jesus Himself began His ministry at about thirty years of age, being the son of (Mary), the son of Heli, 24 the son of Matthat,
Why didn’t he just put Mary in the genealogy? Well, we all wish he would have. But Jewish genealogies did not go through the mother’s side. Genealogies generally didn’t even mention daughters, only sons. Some would object that Luke was trying to fool his audience. But he wasn’t. Luke was up front about Joseph not being Jesus’ physical father.
23 Now Jesus Himself began His ministry at about thirty years of age, being (as was supposed) the son of Joseph, the son of Heli,
Luke also chronicles the virgin conception of Jesus, so his audience would have understood that Joseph wasn’t Jesus physical father.
So, Jesus was the Son of no one, the Son of Man, and the Son of David. But there are four gospels. He is not just a man, or even the King, the Son of David.
As Jesus says in Revelation 22:16, “I am the Root and the Offspring of David.” That is, He is both the Creator of David and the Descendant of David.
IV. John – Son of God/God in flesh
John 1:1-18 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 He was in the beginning with God. 3 All things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made.
10 He was in the world, and the world was made through Him, and the world did not know Him.
14 And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth. 15 John bore witness of Him and cried out, saying, “This was He of whom I said, ‘He who comes after me [f]is preferred before me, for He was before me.’ ”
18 No one has seen God at any time. The only begotten [h]Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, He has declared Him.
Probably more controversial than calling Jesus the Son of Adam, or the Son of David is to call Him the Son of God.
From “staybiblical.com” a website dedicated to destroying Biblical doctrine.
“God cannot die. God doesn’t pray to himself. God doesn’t argue with himself. God didn’t anoint himself. God lives in Jesus, but Jesus is not God. The following Bible Verses will prove the fact that Jesus is NOT God.”
Many so-called Christian groups try to destroy the truth that Jesus is God. And some do so by pointing out that He is called, “The Son of God.”
What does it mean that He is called the Son of God? Well first let’s consider what it doesn’t mean. It doesn’t mean what some pseudo- Christian groups say it means; That Jesus was a created being just like you and I; that Jesus came into existence as every other human life does in this world.
How does human life come into existence?
All other human life begins in the same way. You have the union of the egg and seed in the mother, then you have the Spiritual component that makes that person unique and spiritual. God, at conception, creates a new soul, or spirit within that person. Again, the spirit of a person is created at conception. It did not exist in some holding place for unborn souls before conception.
For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother’s womb. I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well. Psalm 139:13-14
Job 10:9-12 9 Remember, I pray, that You have made me like clay.
Every indication in Scripture is that a human being’s spirit and body came into existence at the same time.
All human beings started their existence in the womb, at conception. Except one. Jesus Christ. The Bible repeatedly purports that Jesus Spirit existed prior to His conception. In fact, it states that He has existed forever. This passage in John says,
the Word was God. 2 He was in the beginning with God. 3 All things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made.
15 John bore witness of Him and cried out, saying, “This was He of whom I said, ‘He who comes after me [f]is preferred before me, for He was before me.’ ”
So, what does it mean that He is called the Son of God? Well, sonship meant more than being the procreator in first century Jewish society. It meant that you were the heir of the father.
And to the be the “only Son” meant that you were the sole heir. When you reach adulthood you began assuming equal standing with the father. You have equal authority in the household.
So, when Jesus is called “Son of God” the Jews understood that He wasn’t being placed on equal footing with God. Just think about it. Jesus’ Jewish enemies wouldn’t have objected to the title “Son of God,” if all it meant was that Jesus was a created being. They all, we all are created beings. They understood that He was being made equal with God.
John 5:18 Therefore the Jews sought all the more to kill Him, because He not only broke the Sabbath, but also said that God was His Father, making Himself equal with God.John 8:58-59 Jesus said to them, “Most assuredly, I say to you, before Abraham was, I AM.”59 Then they took up stones to throw at Him; but Jesus hid Himself and went out of the temple, going[c] through the midst of them, and so passed by.
John 10:30-33 I and My Father are one.”31 Then the Jews took up stones again to stone Him. 32 Jesus answered them, “Many good works I have shown you from My Father. For which of those works do you stone Me?” 33 The Jews answered Him, saying, “For a good work we do not stone You, but for blasphemy, and because You, being a Man, make Yourself God.”
To be the only begotten Son of God is to be equal in authority with God. God did not create Jesus’ spirit in the womb of Mary. The egg was there, and God created the seed out of nothing, and the eternally existent second person of the Trinity, Jesus, indwelt that new life, and was born.
They knew what He meant.
“During His trial before the Jewish leaders, the High Priest demanded of Jesus, “I charge you under oath by the living God: Tell us if you are the Christ, the Son of God” (Matthew 26:63). “‘Yes, it is as you say,’ Jesus replied. ‘But I say to all of you: In the future you will see the Son of Man sitting at the right hand of the Mighty One and coming on the clouds of heaven’” (Matthew 26:64). The Jewish leaders responded by accusing Jesus of blasphemy (Matthew 26:65-66). Later, before Pontius Pilate, “The Jews insisted, ‘We have a law, and according to that law He must die, because He claimed to be the Son of God’” (John 19:7). Why would His claiming to be the Son of God be considered blasphemy and be worthy of a death sentence? The Jewish leaders understood exactly what Jesus meant by the phrase “Son of God.” To be the Son of God is to be of the same nature as God. The Son of God is “of God.” The claim to be of the same nature as God—to in fact be God—was blasphemy to the Jewish leaders; therefore, they demanded Jesus’ death, in keeping with Leviticus 24:15. Hebrews 1:3 expresses this very clearly, “The Son is the radiance of God’s glory and the exact representation of His being.”
So, whose Son is He? He is the Son of No one, the Son of Mary, the Son of Man, the Son of Adam, the Son of Abraham, the Son of David, the Son of God. And that’s the genealogy controversy.
But at Christmas, after all the controversies are washed away, we join the chorus “Oh Come let us adore Him.”